I remember when I was 11 and sent off for some giant pumpkin seeds from an ad in the back of Boy's Life magazine. I got a pumkin around 700 lbs and won first place in the county fair.

Then the evil started....

My mother turned the whole thing into pumpkin pies and pumpkin bread. She made them and froze them. We ate pumpkin pies for dessert for almost a year until my dad mercifully stepped in and put a stop to the insanity.

It was 30+ years later that I actually sat down and ate a slice of pumkin pie. That slice will probably do me for another 10 years or so.

1st place went to Leonard urena -weighing in at 1684.5 lbs -which set a new state record in california -there are two more competitions this week end in ca there is still a chance to break the world record of 1810 lbs--last weekend there was a grower in PA that weighed in at 1807missing the record by 3lbs-on columbus day california has the world famous Halfmoon bay competition and they say the world record may go down this year--I have a was to go--RDY-B

the best tip would be pruning-set fruit only on main vine-secondary vines run off the main-tetary vines are the third stage growth that runs off the secondary vine--prune all tetary (third stage growth) it is the third stage growth that is robing your growth power-you prune these when they are very small-by pinching them off so they dont grow-now your plant is secondary growth and main vine-if you bury the secondary vines they will send a tap root and feeder roots at each leaf axle along the vine so now you have a huge food factory to feed the pumpkin- ;) RDY-B

When I was a kid my Dad bought dome Big Mac seeds. It grew to around 30lbs before bugs ate the bottom out. I remember how excited we were that we were gonna get this gigantic pumpkin, then there was just disappointment.

What's the trick to getting them that big? I guess you have to use some pesticides to keep the bugs at bay right?

When I was a kid my Dad bought dome Big Mac seeds. It grew to around 30lbs before bugs ate the bottom out. I remember how excited we were that we were gonna get this gigantic pumpkin, then there was just disappointment.

What's the trick to getting them that big? I guess you have to use some pesticides to keep the bugs at bay right?

...JP

gota put something under it - like plywood or mill fabric-gophers are the worst-pesticide not required but a little systemic will save alot of problems -weather in the ground(granular) or foliar --RDY-B

Thanks for the tip about pruning Rdy-B. I have noticed the tap roots forming along the vines at the leaf axis like you mentioned. I figured that was a good thing, but I didn’t actually cover the vines with compost. Do you think hilling those vines up like potatoes would be a good idea?

I pruned off all but one pumpkin, but I did not prune the third stage vine growth. Will have to remember that for next year.

What about water? Do you use drippers? Misters? Is your watering on a timer?

you need to bury the secondary about two -three inches under the top soil-fluffy soil in the patch helps with root development and fast growth-when i bury my vines i add a little organic granular fert-4-3-3 with 7% calcium also in the trench i add MYCORIZA fungi-this year i hand watered -but i am switching to drip tape next year but i do use a fertilizer injection system much like a green house system to regulate my ferts- i also used a rizo sphere bacteria inaculant for soil born pathogens-if you want to be consistent you will need to get soil samples done -then adjust your soil to proper base saturation for extreme gardening -but if you master pruning techniques and vine burying-with some added ferts you will get up to 800lbs and then you can try some more advanced methods -as long as you keep increasing in size you are improvingdont try to much to fast or the fruit will split-my pumpkin was pushing over 20lbs growth a day for 60 daysand gains of 35lbs a day are not unheard of-keep at it -- ;) RDY-B

the seed that grew my pumpkin was the 1470 urena (991 urena X 1142 vankooten ) I crossed it withe a 1205 Holland--it was cool because leanardo gave me the seed himself and he is the grower to break state record this year-I will grow the 1470 again-only problem i had was there was a seed in the blosom-and that was my second set on the main trying to get the set the furthiest out as to have more plant pushing the fruit-when there is a seed in the blosom that small part of the fruit dosent grow-so there was a dent or defect in the shape and it probly cost several hundred pounds-such is life -there was not enough time to get another chance at a main vine set- RDY-B